Item 6:

Within an electric circuit, consisting of a battery and a single resistor, a constant current is flowing according to Ohm's law.

If the resistivity of the resistor is increased, the current is decreased to a new steady state and vice versa.

Question:

What kind of process takes place as transition between such steady states?

Which of the following statements about the underlying transition process is correct or makes sense to you?

1) I have never heard about transitions between steady states of currents in electric circuits.
2) There must be some kind of process, but I do not know what it is.
3) A change in density of the drifting electrons, forming the current, is travelling as a wave front along the wire to establish a new steady state.
4) A change in density of the surface charges is travelling like a wave front along the wire to establish a new steady state.